Taming the Tiger (Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2001 (PC))

Member Name: DavidJWest

Product:	Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2001 (PC)
Date:	16/05/01 (56 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Plenty of course, Online Tournaments

Disadvantages: Some glitches, Quite difficult at first

It's inevitable after the recent success of Tiger Woods that he would be feature in a computer game. It can sometimes be a warning sign when a so called star is featured in such a product as it can mean the game is weak so they use a big name to try to sell the wares.

This game is wholly unoriginal, but it is a golf game so what do you expect really? You start by creating your player, choosing what he or she looks like, basic playing style and then take on the world at the game of golf.

To start with you need to prove yourself and so have to win a qualifying tournament in order to progress to the PGA tour proper, where the money can be won!

You don't have to play 'proper' tournaments, there are options for matchplay, strokeplay, skins as well as the cup competition which involves playing as countries in a Ryder-cup like competition.

But the tournament season is where the game is at it's best as you can mould your character into a pro, with your stats and highlights being carefully tracked.

Graphics are important on this kind of game and they are good if not spectacular. The way the greens are mapped is slightly confusing with contour lines being used and it can be frustrating as the ball seems to either always be short or it rolls for ever. This is probably just me not being good enough at the game but it niggles.

One thing I do like is the courses do all have their own distinctive flavour, enhanced by the graphics. It does feel as though you are playing in different countries with even the types of trees being accuratly depicted. There are also different weather conditions to contend with.

Every conceivalble feature is in this game as well as some new ones. You can use backspin, topspin, fade and draw and choose different styles of shots too. You can even ask the computer to suggest safe and aggressive shots on the lower skill levels. The method of control is the tried and t
ested three clicks, one to start to shot, one at the top of the backswing for power and finally the crucial click which determines if the shot is going to go straight!

A nice idea is you can use a more realistic mouse controlled swing, where you move the mouse one way and then back again to simulate the club stroke. I haven't tried this so can't comment as to how realistic it is but it is a nice touch to have the option to control things in this manner.

There are a total of 17 course to play on, all realistically modelled on real course and there is a course designer too, so you can recreate the local pitch and putt or whatever course you like. There is a website where you can download the courses other people have created too, and you can play online in tournaments against fellow hackers like me! I should point out that I haven't manage to download any courses yet as I get the dreaded "Page Cannot Be Displayed" error it could be my ISP or a temporary fault so I am not laying blame here.

I suspect this will be very entertaining to play online but again haven't tried the online game yet as I feel I would be embarrassed! More practise needed for me! I plan to update this review once I have entered the lions den!

There is a commentator who follows you around the course and he does offer some useful tips as well as fawning at the feet of Mr Woods whenever he strikes the small white ball. The computer controlled players are pretty handy, you can play with them in your group or by playing in a group of your own can complete 18 holes in about half and hour which is good if time is pressing.

One of the best features is as well as keeping track of all your career stats shuch as greens hit in regulation, putts taken etc, it saves the best shots you perform in a highlights file, so you can relive all your past glories.

There are a couple of bugs I have come across when playing the game, once
I was in a position where the ball had gone into a lake and was forced to place the ball, but the computer didn't let me place it so had to abort the game. Also a couple of times I have had the game "freeze" on me. This may be due to the leaky seive of an operating system which Windows 98 masquerades as, I am resintalling this peice of software soon so it will be interesting to see if it recurrs.

Overall I recommend this if you are into golf, if you already have a decent golf game on the PC then I wouldn't bother, but if not then it is enjoyable. It does have the niggling bugs and it is frustratingly hard at times but worth perservering with.

Summary: